posted at 12:41 pm on August 22, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

The Russian military has moved artillery units manned by Russian personnel inside Ukrainian territory in recent days and is using them to fire at Ukrainian forces, NATO officials said on Friday.

The West has long accused Russia of supporting the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, but this is the first time it has said it had evidence of the direct involvement of the Russian military.

The Russian move represents a significant escalation of the Kremlin’s involvement in the fighting there and comes as a convoy of Russian trucks with humanitarian provisions has crossed into Ukrainian territory without Kiev’s permission.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Ramussen accused Russia of invading Ukraine and violating its sovereignty. And that was just in relation to the “aid convoy,” which looks much more like cover for their infiltration into eastern Ukraine:

And for the first time, NATO accused Russia of directly intervening in Ukraine, as Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russian artillery support is being employed against Ukrainian forces in eastern regions where fighting has raged for months.

Rasmussen said the Russian convoy had entered into Ukraine without its government’s consent and without any involvement from the Red Cross. He warned it would only escalate the crisis in the region to worrying levels, and he suggested it threw into question whether Russia’s true purpose for providing the “humanitarian” aid was to supply arms to pro-Russian separatists.

“This is a blatant breach of Russia’s international commitments, including those made recently in Berlin and Geneva, and a further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russia,” Rasmussen said. “It can only deepen the crisis in the region, which Russia itself has created and has continued to fuel. The disregard of international humanitarian principles raises further questions about whether the true purpose of the aid convoy is to support civilians or to resupply armed separatists.” …

“These developments are even more worrying as they coincide with a major escalation in Russian military involvement in Eastern Ukraine since mid-August, including the use of Russian forces. In addition, Russian artillery support – both cross-border and from within Ukraine – is being employed against the Ukrainian armed forces,” Rasmussen said.

“We have also seen transfers of large quantities of advanced weapons, including tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and artillery to separatist groups in Eastern Ukraine. Moreover, NATO is observing an alarming build-up of Russian ground and air forces in the vicinity of Ukraine.”

There’s more where that came from, too:

Just in- @barbarastarrcnn reports Russia now has up to 18,000 “combat ready” troops on its border with Ukraine, per a US defense official

The presence of Russian vehicles in Ukraine is an “unauthorized entry” and the personnel and vehicles must be removed immediately, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters Friday. No Russian personnel should enter Ukraine under the guise of a humanitarian convoy, Kirby said.

“Unauthorized entry”? That sounds like a passport issue, not moving artillery into another country to attack its military. This might be more of a reaction to the convoy rather than the NATO statement, but, er … doesn’t the Pentagon talk with NTO about these issues?

Ukraine can now say, “I told you so”:

Not that doing so will provide much comfort, of course. The declaration by NATO leadership of Russian infiltration and offensive operations in eastern Ukraine will force Western leaders to come to terms with Russian aggression in the region. The EU and US had already threatened expanded sanctions against Russia if they moved militarily in Ukraine in support of the rebels, and now the time has arrived. Ukraine won’t be able to hold out against the Russian military for long if Vladimir Putin decides to stay, so the only way to reverse this course is to make it as expensive as possible for Putin and his supporters.

Rasmussen’s accusation puts pressure on Barack Obama, too. Will he come back from his vacation for this, or will we get another brief statement before tee time?

Update: The Washington Post has picked up the news in an updated version of their earlier story on the “aid” convoy:

NATO said Friday that Russian artillery pieces are firing at the Ukrainian military from Russian territory and within Ukraine, dramatically escalating a conflict that has taken a new turn with the unauthorized entry into eastern Ukraine of what the alliance described as a “Russian so-called humanitarian convoy.”

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned the entry of the convoy Friday as “a blatant breach of Russia’s international commitments” and said it could only deepen a crisis that Moscow has created and helped to fuel.

“The disregard of international humanitarian principles raises further questions about whether the true purpose of the aid convoy is to support civilians or to resupply armed separatists,” Rasmussen said in a statement issued from NATO headquarters.

Unless artillery shells are considered humanitarian aid and launching them at high speed considered humanitarian distribution, I’d say we already have the answer to that, no?

Update: The Daily Caller noticed the reluctance at the Pentagon to call this an invasion, too:

“We are very concerned by the movement of a Russian convoy across Ukraine’s border,” the rear admiral said. “We strongly condemn this action, and any actions that Russian forces take that increase tensions in the region.”

“Russia should not send vehicles, persons or cargo of any kind into Ukraine, whether under the guise of humanitarian convoys or any other pretext, without Kiev’s express permission,” Kirby warned. “This is a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia.”

“Russia must remove its vehicles and personnel from the territory of Ukraine immediately,” he declared. “Failure to do so will result in additional costs and isolation.”

“Does the U.S. consider this an invasion?” one reporter asked.

“It’s certainly an unauthorized entry into Ukraine by this convoy,” Kirby replied, “and we are consulting, as I said, with international partners right now about next steps. I don’t have anything additional to add at this time.”

Kirby later appeared to stop himself when describing the invasion. “We’ve made our position very, very clear,” he said. “That they should not be doing this under the guise of a humanitarian convoy, to use that as an excuse, um . . . uh . . . to act . . . to cross the border in an unauthorized way.”

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Nations move artillery units and personnel into Ukraine every single day. Is Obama supposed to only be concerned about the ones moved by Russia? What you want is for Obama to show solemnity to the hurt Russia’s action has on our national power. That they felt confident moving artillery units and personnel into Ukraine is something the hawks want to prevent, not because they care about Ukranians, but because they care about how big the rest of the world believes our fly pole is. Be nice if folks could admit that instead of making themselves look dumb by acting like Obama’s supposed to care about any Ukranians who die.

No, Ukraine can now fight to the last man to defend itself, and attempt to inflict as much damage as possible upon Russia and its assets in the meantime.

Akzed on August 22, 2014 at 12:49 PM

It’s a choice for them of doing that or being wiped off the map.

Russia’s conventional forces aren’t in that great a shape, hence the trickery Putin had to use even to seize the Crimea (even at a time Ukraine was so chaotic it didn’t have any leadership that could resist).

They seem to be better organized now and are actually defeating the “Russian Separatists” (which are Russian Spetznatz and nonuniformed troops). They might be able to defeat the main Russian army.

Putin is risking everything if he DOES invade.

If the West would take this seriously, impose REAL sanctions aimed at stopping Russia from exporting gas and oil, Putin would become so unpopular as to be overthrown in a coup.

Putin knows he has until 1/20/2017 to reconquer the territory of the Soviet Union without meaningful American interference.

He’s going to use it.

ConstantineXI on August 22, 2014 at 12:42 PM

What after 1/20/2014? Is the new president going to invade Russia? Is the new president going to send American troops to stop the Russian? What is the new president going to do? Inquiring minds want to know.

What after 1/20/2014? Is the new president going to invade Russia? Is the new president going to send American troops to stop the Russian? What is the new president going to do? Inquiring minds want to know.

Personally, If Putin goes all in on Ukraine, why not involve Poland and the Baltic States? Russia is big, but if those states sent what military force they had in on another front, whilst Putin has his good stuff involved in street to street urban fighting in Donetsk, then Putin might have an issue.

If Poland and the Baltic states are going to have to fight for their survival–and realize, if Putin is jumping in here, then he clearly wants to recreate the Soviet Bloc–then it’s much better to fight on Russian territory as much as possible.

Sure, Latvia and Lithuania don’t have much of an armed force, but Poland and Check and Slovak do, and they could at least put off fighting Putin one at a time.

Not a single country could have beaten the Wehrmacht in WWII (aside from the US, of course, but it would have been hard, hard, hard), but together the world beat Germany down. Putin can take any of these countries… but all at the same time? Sure, Obama will do jack squat, but the Brits and Germans will at least sell resupply to the Poles and the Ukrainians. I hope.

What after 1/20/2014? Is the new president going to invade Russia? Is the new president going to send American troops to stop the Russian? What is the new president going to do? Inquiring minds want to know.

What after 1/20/2014? Is the new president going to invade Russia? Is the new president going to send American troops to stop the Russian? What is the new president going to do? Inquiring minds want to know.

coolrepublica on August 22, 2014 at 1:00 PM

1) Order a full-scale Exercise Reforger
2) Offer Ukraine, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia advanced weaponry and training
3) Insist that all NATO member states spend no less than 5% of their GDP on defense
4) Immediately push for changes to the law to allow petroleum exports to Europe
5) Immediately approve the development of the terminal facilities necessary to ship LNG to Europe on a massive scale
6) Make it clear that #5 is a temporary remedy, and that Europe MUST move forward with additional nuclear power generation and end all bans on fracking rather than relying on capricious Greentard pipe-dreams like wind and solar that have already failed massively on the continent
7) Recognize Kurdistan as an independent state and help facilitate transport of oil from their oil fields to Europe

They seem to be better organized now and are actually defeating the “Russian Separatists” (which are Russian Spetznatz and nonuniformed troops). They might be able to defeat the main Russian army.

Putin is risking everything if he DOES invade.

I am somewhat hopeful you’re correct and have had the same ideas myself. Remember that in 2008 the Russians failed to conquer Georgia and their army collapsed into disorganized chaos and looting around Gori. It was at that point I began considering they might be a paper tiger. Ukraine is a much larger country than Georgia, so I’ve wondered if they might really be able to repel a direct invasion if they stand and fight.

The consequences of an outright Ukrainian military victory for global politics would be extremely interesting, to say the least.

If the West would take this seriously, impose REAL sanctions aimed at stopping Russia from exporting gas and oil, Putin would become so unpopular as to be overthrown in a coup.

ConstantineXI on August 22, 2014 at 12:56 PM

The current sanctions are hurting the Russian business community, particularly Russian banks, but I agree that oil and gas bans would really get Putin’s attention.

Nations move artillery units and personnel into Ukraine every single day. Is Obama supposed to only be concerned about the ones moved by Russia? What you want is for Obama to show solemnity to the hurt Russia’s action has on our national power. That they felt confident moving artillery units and personnel into Ukraine is something the hawks want to prevent, not because they care about Ukranians, but because they care about how big the rest of the world believes our fly pole is. Be nice if folks could admit that instead of making themselves look dumb by acting like Obama’s supposed to care about any Ukranians who die.

Russia’s conventional forces aren’t in that great a shape, hence the trickery Putin had to use even to seize the Crimea (even at a time Ukraine was so chaotic it didn’t have any leadership that could resist).

They seem to be better organized now and are actually defeating the “Russian Separatists” (which are Russian Spetznatz and nonuniformed troops). They might be able to defeat the main Russian army.

Putin is risking everything if he DOES invade.

If the West would take this seriously, impose REAL sanctions aimed at stopping Russia from exporting gas and oil, Putin would become so unpopular as to be overthrown in a coup.

The idea that Russia even tried to “conquer” Georgia is completely stupid. They did think about bombing Tbilisi though.

The consequences of an outright Ukrainian military victory for global politics would be extremely interesting, to say the least.

Ukraine has no prayer of winning an outright victory… look where the fighting is now, they will lose most of their military as POWs in a simple pincer maneuver.

If the West would take this seriously, impose REAL sanctions aimed at stopping Russia from exporting gas and oil, Putin would become so unpopular as to be overthrown in a coup.

ConstantineXI on August 22, 2014 at 12:56 PM

The current sanctions are hurting the Russian business community, particularly Russian banks, but I agree that oil and gas bans would really get Putin’s attention.

Europe is barely treading recession and even Ukraine itself can’t live without Russian gas… India and China won’t listen to it and because of the short term supply shortages that would ensue I could see India and other nations completely ignore not only the sanctions against Russia but also those Iran.

You bring up excellent points though the Russian military is not what it used to be, though neither are we.

Clearly, we could end this now, if we wanted to. Go directly to China and essentially say we want to work out an energy deal with you contingent on you ending your relationship with Russia. I realize we have almost no pull there at moment because of the One, but adults could figure out a way to make that happen.

And while China and India are making scary sounds about being angry with us (Obama’s squandering of the good work Bush did in India is just awful) neither India or China can live without access to our market. It would hurt us no doubt. But China would collapse completely and they don’t have enough of a military to do anything about it.

I accept any push back on the premise that Obama has not done anything necessary to provide us the options to act easily or perhaps even as I have outlined. That is the cost of having teenagers run the government for the last 5 or 6 years.

The CFR, Council on Foreign Relations, hardly my normal source, have published a surprising – for them – article at their online magazine “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin”

I tried to publish a link that tied together the neo con gaming on this one, but for some reason it would not post. The nation builders need a war

Victory Nuland, the asst sec of state who leaked info on the 5 billion dollar democracy training in Ukraine that preceded tossing out the last leader, began as chief of staff to Bill Clinton’s deputy sec of state, Strobe Talbott (whose college thesis was on the end of the Nation State) In Clinton’s war, Russia’s ally Serbia was wiped

She then became VP Dick Cheney’s foreign policy adviser. He recommended her as US Ambassador to NATO. Later Nuland was press spokesman for Hillary Clinton. Nuland provided the Susan Rice talking points. Later became Asst sec state for European and Asian Affairs. Her spouse Robert Kagan moved from Cheney camp to DEM in 2007. Despite that he became McCain’s foreign policy adviser in the 2008 election and was Romneys FP adviser. Kagan works at Brookings where he is anti Putin, supports bringing Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, supported the fall of Assad, and the destabilization of Russia’s southern border. Kagan’s brother Fred was ‘anti corruption’ adviser to Gen Petraeus, and Fred’s wife worked on US policy for the military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. One big hive

Nuland was in Cairo promoting the ‘arab spring’ and in Ukraine handing out doughnuts when the crowds tossed out the last elected leader. There are oil contracts waiting

Meanwhile the US gov put put bid requests to supply materials to build a border fence – across the full border between Crimea and Ukraine. I thought fences didn’t work.

Sadly, sanction wars combined with spear shaking,created the environment that pushed the world into WWII. They are determined to repeat the stupidity. So far the public isn’t taking the bait

In fairness, he isn’t the only one who is hopelessly out of his depth. The thugs and barbarians of the world are emboldened because they have perceived that the all of the ‘senior’ governments of Western Europe and North America are led by preening, pontificating, clueless nincompoops.

Clearly, we could end this now, if we wanted to. Go directly to China and essentially say we want to work out an energy deal with you contingent on you ending your relationship with Russia. I realize we have almost no pull there at moment because of the One, but adults could figure out a way to make that happen.
Zomcon JEM on August 22, 2014 at 3:36 PM

China already has deals with Russia. A BRICs bank to compete with IMF has been created between China, Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa. A yuan ruble swap has just been negotiated. China has signed currency swap agreements with the Swiss, Indonesia, Brazil, setting up UK, Germany, Luxembourg, France and South Korea.

China is acting to free itself of the need for US dollars. China backs Russia on Malaysian Flight M17. Russia may well back China on the Pacific territory disputes.

The BRICs met with Latin countries this summer. India just veto’d a new WTO treaty. Stupidly, the Western sanctions against Russia facilitated the switch from the US dollar as world currency. Not to mention, rich Russians moving their dollars to alternate currency in Hong Kong. Breitbart reported China is getting ready to dump its 1.3 trillion in Treasury bonds which will push up our interest rates (variable rate mortgage or credit cards).

China stopped buying US debt last year. All you get back is US dollars. Someone, probably RU has begun unloading US debt. It is being done slowly. Too fast, and the dollars returned for debt notes become worthless. China has been making huge inroads in Africa, building infrastructure in return for raw materials.

It is too late to make nice. The key is China stopped buying T notes last year. Half our treasury sales since then have been to ourselves, other major buyer is a mystery buyer in Belgium – which rumor says may use the initials Q.E.2.

IMHO the big mistake happened after Russia broke up, when Clinton, Bill sent in financial experts to help the ex Soviet transition to ‘democracy’ and the RU people got royally scrxwed. The sins of the fathers